Review of Daydream Nation (2011) by Erin F — 26 Jan 2013

The problem with this movie, essentially, is simply that there is away too damn much going on with it. I tried to like it particularly because I really like Kat Dennings as an actress, but halfway through the movie I found myself bored, detached from the story, and slightly infuriated. Caroline is constantly about two seconds away from me wanting to slap her. She plays Thurston like a fiddle, going between these two guys with her only excuse being that she's some messed up teen, experimenting with love through some no- good doings. Even realizing this, however, I couldn't bring myself to feel bad for Thurston in the midst of all this- or any other character, for that matter. For the time allotted I feel as if more could be done with this story had they focused on the point of the movie. Perhaps if the plot had been more centralized around the serial killer- the only time we here about him is in passing, or a line or two mentioned offhandedly in dialogue. Not to mention the teacher conflict. We go from what is clearly an unhealthy relationship to Mr. A jumping off the deep end as if he belongs in a padded room, nearly killing himself, calling his ex fiancé (who we also know next to nothing about) before eventually ending up with the (you guessed it!) bland, one dimensional gym teacher. Hopefully this review shows you exactly how many factors this movie has attempted to bite off before they can chew. I was left with no real meaning to an hour and a half of madness other than that you should never trust the new girl in town, because she will probably end up using a nice, clearly available guy her own age in order to get closer to the big-bowl-of-crazy-flakes history teacher.

Oh, and did I mention the title has virtually nothing to do with the movie?

Yeah. It doesn't.